


Trilemma

by greerwatson



Category: Forever Knight
Genre: Backstory, F/M, Historical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-30
Updated: 2012-09-30
Packaged: 2018-05-21 10:56:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6049012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greerwatson/pseuds/greerwatson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>LaCroix ponders Janette's request to bring across the knight Nicolas de Brabant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trilemma

**Author's Note:**

> This ficlet was written for PJ1228 in the Dead Dog Party after FK Fic Fest 2012 to her prompt, “Nick/Lacroix, Janette: Love at first Bite”. It was posted to [FK Comment Fic](http://fkcommentfic.livejournal.com) on 30 September 2012, and posted to FKFIC-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU on 3 October 2012.

It was Janette who wanted the knight—wanted him to keep, not just to take once and discard.  Lacroix had no such interest in him.

Oh, he’d seen the fellow in the inn, carousing with his companions.  It was clear why Janette fancied him.  He was undoubtedly a handsome fellow, Lacroix thought:  even downright pretty in some lights.  Quite the pick of the lot, certainly:  tall and straight limbed, even-featured, unscarred (at least in the face, for Lacroix hadn’t stripped him yet to check), with all his hair and sound teeth.

A slight smile lingered on Roman lips:  one might think him contemplating a new purchase at the slave market. But....

The smile faded.  This would be no slave.  This would be a son to match his daughter. 

Janette truly never asked much of him:  he was her saviour and her master:  she felt both duty and gratitude.  Yet ... she had now asked him to bring the knight across. 

What if he refused?

Well, he was sure she would simply take the man.  He was _sure_.  She would not sacrifice her appetite in order to preserve him alive.  That took true love; and she could not _love_ the man.  (After her mortal life, Lacroix was not sure she had such love in her.)  So ... she would drink the knight.  And, once he was dead, she’d forget, as one always forgot prey.

And yet....

Janette had been his truest success to date:  the others he had brought across had either died in the attempt or, sooner rather than later, gone their own way.  And he had let them, his attachment attenuated, his interest waned.  Janette, though ... she had been a passing fancy that had _not_ moved on.  She stayed, at least for now—and a long “now” it had proved, even in _his_ life.  Might he drive her away by his refusal?  Would she leave him for sake of a mortal?  He did not want to lose her:  she had grown beloved to him in his heart.

Lacroix did not appreciate the horns of a dilemma.

No!  A _tri_ lemma.  (The word amused him for an instant.)  Well, yes, there _was_ that third option.  What if he did bring this Brabantine across?  What then?

He didn’t know.  Ultimately, all the observation of the past few days could not answer the question.  Observation never did—as his past failures proved.  Would Nicolas de Brabant make a vampire?  Or would he pass to the light?  Would his dark soul save him?  Or would conscience drive him to the sun or the stake?  Would he be the love Janette thought ... or just another neck in the night? 

What would he be to Lacroix? 

The proof lay always in the blood.

First bite, true bite.  If the taste be sweet....

**Author's Note:**

> The story continues in ["Tainted Draught"](http://archiveofourown.org/works/608061), which was written for Astolat in Yuletide 2012.


End file.
